Drape / drapery
|
Drapery refers to pieces of cloth or textiles that hang in specific positions mainly for decoration. The drape of a material merely describes the way that material falls, folds or hangs.
In buildings it normally refers to textiles that hang around a window reveal or bed for example. Drapery is also used to describe loose clothing and how if falls over the human form. It was an important element of early artworks, such as shawls, head scarfs and loin cloths that featured heavily from the Greek to the Renaissance periods, particularly in sculptural pieces.
Today the term drapery or drapes might be used instead of curtains, however drapery specifically refers to the act of falling and folding whereas a curtain refers to the material and its function. The early curtains of the Egyptians in around 3100 B.C, made of animal hides to hang in doorways, were more akin to drapery as they hung in a fixed position, rather than being moveable as with curtains. The specific styles of pleat in different types of curtains, such as pencil, pinch or globlet pleats might be more readily referred to as drapery, because the focus of these is the fall or drape of the fabric.
Window scarves or valances are also forms of drapery.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
Featured articles and news
Buildings that changed the future of architecture. Book review.
The Sustainability Pathfinder© Handbook
Built environment agency launches free Pathfinder© tool to help businesses progress sustainability strategies.
Government outcome to the late payment consultation, ECA reacts.
IHBC 2025 Gus Astley Student Award winners
Work on the role of hewing in UK historic conservation a win for Jack Parker of Oxford Brookes University.
Future Homes Building Standards and plug-in solar
Parts F and L amendments, the availability of solar panels and industry responses.
How later living housing can help solve the housing crisis
Unlocking homes, unlocking lives.
Preparing safety case reports for HRBs under the BSA
A new practical guide to preparing structural inputs for safety cases and safety case reports published by IStructE.
Male construction workers and prostate cancer
CIOB and Prostate Cancer UK encourage awareness of prostate cancer risks, and what to do about it.
The changed R&D tax landscape for Architects
Specialist gives a recap on tax changes for Research and Development, via the ACA newsletter.
Structured product data as a competitive advantage
NBS explain why accessible product data that works across digital systems is key.
Welsh retrofit workforce assessment
Welsh Government report confirms Wales faces major electrical skills shortage, warns ECA.
A now architectural practice looks back at its concept project for a sustainable oceanic settlement 25 years on.
Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
Government report and back track on copyright opt out for AI training but no clear preferred alternative as yet.
Embedding AI tools into architectural education
Beyond the render: LMU share how student led research is shaping the future of visualisation workflows.
Why document control still fails UK construction projects
A Chartered Quantity Surveyor explains what needs to change and how.
Inspiration for a new 2026 wave of Irish construction professionals.
New planning reforms and Warm Homes Bill
Take centre stage at UK Construction Week London.